THE
WICKED
The Wicked Running Register • March/April 2014 • newsletter@wickedrunningclub.com
Running Register
March/April 2014 • Priceless
Est. Jan 2010
Presidential Perspective T.R. Ramsdell
What a difference a year makes. I am still SO excited about this years Boston Marathon. I plan on using a lot of caps in this column, so prepare. I had the incredible privilege of running this years marathon with one of Wicked’s invitational numbers. Tim Short got the other, and although I ran it much slower than he, I guarantee that I had more fun. NO ONE had a better time out there than me. The plan was to run slow, (didn’t even wear a watch), so I could really take in the whole experience and appreciate the historical significance of the day, (the bronchitis helped with that). The crowds were crazy loud the whole route. It seriously just never let up the entire race. You couldn’t help but get pushed along by this amazing collection of people. Just constant cheering and encouragement from everyone. If you were out there, thank you, thank you! As a result of this unexpected pandemonium, and regardless of my running sans watch, I ran the first half much faster than I wanted to. I did the math at each mile and figured my splits to be sub 8. Really needed to slow it down and focus on “taking it all in”. This was not about a PR, it was about high-fiving little kids, and boy did I! Even for the kids that didn’t have their hand out, I ran over and said “C’mon, gimme some!” I’m happy to say that they all obliged me. The next race marker for me was the
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gel stop at mile 17. Even though I knew they’d be there, I was almost brought to tears when I came over the hill and saw everyone’s faces. There they were, 60 of my Wicked friends and teammates cheering their asses off for me! I stopped for a while and ran back and forth across the street to try and give everyone some sweaty hugs or a high five, and pose for pictures. I was having such a good time, I almost forgot the task at hand. I still had 9 more miles of this little adventure to finish up. To all of you that were there, thank you for that, I really needed that boost at mile 17. The trio of hills to follow were “interesting”. And although I’d been out on the course and run the hills twice before on training runs, they seemed especially daunting today. A lot of people don’t realize that there are actually 3 hills, not just Heartbreak Hill. The first 2 wear you down, and Heartbreak just kicks you in the b***s! There was some walking on the hills today, not gonna lie! I’d been warned about the downhill from the top of Heartbreak to the finish line. Warned about downhill finish? What could be better than a downhill finish? HOLY CRAP the down hills are BRUTAL on your quads. I locked up SOLID and had to keep stopping to stretch and take walk breaks. If you caught me walking, I’m sorry. I even covered my bib with my hand so I wouldn’t be photographed. Just one more example of how awesome and supportive the crowds were? As I was stopped, grabbing a post and trying to stretch out my now, calf ’s, quads, and hammys, I could hear this huge group of kids near BC screaming across the
street to me “C’mon red (obviously because of my Wicked jersey), get it together. You can do this! You got this!” And when I turned around and started running again, they erupted with cheers. What a feeling to have strangers push you along like that! I was so happy to finally take the right onto Hereford (how come nobody told me there was another hill?). As I turned left onto Boylston, nothing in the world looked better than to see the finish line in the distance. As I ran down Boylston, I just kept looking to the sides to look into the faces of those that had gathered to cheer us in. It’s still very hard to put into words just how I felt being out there and having the chance to be part of this. I stepped across that magical finish line that I had waited so long to cross, and reached down to touch it. I did it. I ran in the most historic marathon of all time. And while I had the worst CLOCK time of any marathon I’ve ever done (over an hour slower) I had the best TIME I’ve ever had! I actually ENJOYED running a marathon for a change! Thank you Wicked for giving me the number, thank you gel stop volunteers for being there, thank you volunteers at the athletes village and at the finish line, thank you Facebook stalkers for the support, and thanks to everyone on the course that yelled to me!
T.R.